2. From the Editor
As someone who has a sincere appreciation for Mother Nature and her
creatures, I am disheartened by what’s being called the Sixth Extinction*.
Unlike prior extinction events, we’re in the midst of the so-called
Anthropocene or the age of the humans – where humans figure strongly as
the main cause for our planet’s losses.
From the rapid decline of thousands of species and the destruction of plant
and animal habitats around the word, to climate change and the exploitation
of resources needed for our very survival, we humans seem incapable of
accepting our role in causing harm to our planet and unwilling to change
our behavior.
Now, more than ever, critical conservation issues must not be viewed
through a singular lens. Rather, they must be approached jointly through
the dedicated and concerted efforts of researchers, policy makers, global
treaties, economic changes, educational opportunities, sustainability
practices and more.
At ASU’s School of Life Sciences, innovative efforts to address these issues
at the intersection of science and society are well underway.
Professor Leah Gerber and her new Center for Biodiversity Outcomes are
facilitating creative conservation solutions and forging new research efforts.
Professor Andrew Smith is working in China with the pika, and professor
Juliet Stromberg has launched a new plant biology and conservation
master’s degree.
Recent doctoral graduate Jesse Senko is searching for ways to save
loggerhead turtles, while postdoctoral researcher Jan Schipper uses
camera traps to study jaguars throughout a Costa Rican conservation
corridor. And, professors Ben Minteer and Stephen Pyne ask a tough
question: What happens after preservation?
From tracking golden eagles to helping NASA investigate ecological
problems, our alumni are also active in conservation. Learn about the work
of Justin Congdon, Evan Carson, Todd Katzner and Libby Larson.
The complexity and difficulty of working in global conservation research
cannot be understated; neither can the dedication, passion and
determination routinely demonstrated by our researchers and students as
they search for solutions to these critical issues.
Sandra Leander
Executive Editor
*The Sixth Extinction is a relatively new idea in the scientific community.
To learn more, we recommend “The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History”
by Elizabeth Kolbert.
Cover: female jaguar Phoenix Zoo
Above: Sandra Leander heads to a research
location to shoot photos Samantha Lloyd
Backround image: Costa Rica aerial
Sandra Leander
4. Director’s Note
In light of global climate change, we frequently hear about the need for
conservation — conservation of water and energy resources, animal
species, habitats and ecosystems.
In past decades, conservation was often viewed as an effort to keep
certain areas of the world more or less untouched by humans. But now,
as we grapple with the potential calamities caused by a warming planet,
conservation may be seen as more of an urgent plea.
Food scarcity, the extinction of plant and animal species, disappearing
habitats and the destruction of the very resources we need to survive, are
just a few critical issues our world is facing. To find potential solutions, we
need creative and collaborative research grounded in an interdisciplinary
approach. Our innovative professors, research scientists and students are
doing just that.
Our newly created Center for Biodiversity Outcomes is focused on research,
education and policy strategies to address critical biodiversity challenges.
Through our partnership with the Phoenix Zoo, we are educating future
biologists as well as studying habitat solutions in Costa Rica for one of the
world’s greatest, yet threatened mammals — the jaguar. In addition, our
undergraduates are getting hands on experience conducting research for
the Zoo’s conservation center.
Our doctoral candidates are working diligently on issues such as
saving loggerhead turtles, and our faculty are being recognized for their
conservation successes abroad. And, we’ve started a much-needed
master’s program in plant biology and conservation in partnership with the
Desert Botanical Garden.
While our school is diverse — with research and education in microbiology,
molecular biosciences and biotechnology, as well as biological sciences —
it is my pleasure to share with you this conservation-themed issue, which
highlights just a few of our current activities. We are working diligently
to create new knowledge that could lead to solutions for several critical
conservation issues.
With Sun Devil pride,
Bertram Jacobs
Professor and Director
ASU School of Life Sciences
Our mission
To inspire and transform life science
students by providing an innovative
learning experience that prepares
them to thrive in a dynamic and
demanding world.
We aim to improve life by stimulating
scientific discovery and solving critical
problems at the intersection of the life
sciences and society.
2 SOLS 2016 | VOLUME 12 NO. 1
5. SOLS publication staff
Executive Editor: Sandra Leander
Art Director and Design: Jacob Sahertian
Contributors: David Kiersh,
Selina Martinez
Photography: Sandra Leander, VisLab
Funding: School of Life Sciences,
Arizona State University
(additional credits noted in articles)
ASU is #1
in the U.S. for
Innovation
#2 Stanford • #3 MIT
3SOLS 2016 | VOLUME 12 NO. 1
7. Cultivating a
Conservation Mindset
Next generation of biologists tackling real-life conservation issues
BY MELINDA WEAVER
When Spenser Babb-Biernacki began her undergraduate degree at
Arizona State University, she thought she wanted to get lost in a world
of books. She started as an English literature major, pursuing her love
of the written word, hoping it would lead her through college and into a
career she would enjoy.
But something was nagging at her. Her path didn’t feel quite right. She
felt a little lost.
Then, she began to realize what was missing from her daily life: her love
of animals and conservation. She decided to switch majors and study
conservation biology with the School of Life Sciences and has never
regretted that decision.
“I always felt I was meant to be outdoors in an active field like this,”
Babb-Biernacki said. “My mom has a deep love and respect of animals
and nature and instilled that in me growing up. I have a real passion for
making a difference.”
(Top right) Spenser Babb-Biernacki takes notes during her internship at the Phoenix Zoo-Arizona Center for Nature Conservation.
Sandra Leander Sandra Leander
5SOLS 2016 | VOLUME 12 NO. 1
8. Babb-Biernacki’s mom had a
membership to the Phoenix Zoo when
her daughter was young, and Babb-
Biernacki has many memories of
exciting weekends at the zoo. When
the opportunity arose for an internship
through a partnership between ASU
School of Life Sciences and the
Phoenix Zoo, she couldn’t wait to apply.
During the end of her junior year, she
was awarded a three-month summer
internship that provided her with the
unique experience of working with
several under-studied animals through
the Zoo’s conservation program.
Again, a childhood memory surfaced,
reminding Babb-Biernacki that she was
heading down a path she had always
known she wanted.
“A few years ago, we were at Disney
World and they actually have a
conservation station in their animal
kingdom and I was just amazed by it,”
Babb-Biernacki said. “I was looking in
all the labs, I was listening to people
doing their educational spiels and
I just loved it. I was thinking this is
something I would love to do.”
She got to spend the summer doing
just that. The Phoenix Zoo operates
its internships in loops, such that
student interns get to try their hand at
all aspects of conservation science:
animal husbandry, lab experiments and
field work. Through this program, Babb-
Biernacki found herself working with all
of the nine local species on which the
Zoo focuses its conservation efforts —
everything from the tiny, 3 millimeter
Springsnail to mammals including the
Mount Graham squirrel. She started
her internship working in the black-
footed ferret exhibit before moving to
the outdoor exhibits and conservation
center. She was also encouraged to
work on her own experiment with a
species rarely studied: the narrow-
headed gartersnake.
“Conservation has different focuses.
Sometimes you don’t realize what
your interests are until someone gives
you a job and you realize ok, I don’t
want to do that,” said Stuart Wells,
Director of Conservation and Science
at the Phoenix Zoo. “This offers an
opportunity because of what we do –
we do field work, we do interpretive,
we do experimental design and we
do husbandry. So, it gives students a
chance to try those out — win, lose
or draw — to get an idea where their
interests are.”
The Phoenix Zoo – Arizona Center for
Nature Conservation has been officially
open since 2007; however, it began
focusing on endangered or threatened
species more than a decade before
that with the hopes of reintroducing
them to the wild. The Phoenix Zoo was
one of the three facilities approached
in the early 1990s to help breed black-
footed ferrets, which were believed
to be extinct in the wild in the 1980s.
On the heels of that successful effort,
which has resulted in more than 100
ferrets being released back into the
wild, the Zoo began working with other
declining local species.
Wells said that observing local species
in a captive setting can be very
informative because researchers can
learn things about the animals that
are difficult to ascertain in the wild,
such as how fast they grow, when
they reach reproductive age and when
they reproduce. For example, until
recently, no one knew that the Mount
Graham squirrel was only receptive to
breeding a mere four hours out of each
(Top left) Spenser Babb-Biernacki and Stuart Wells discuss the health of animals in the Zoo’s conservation program, which includes
the narrow-headed gartersnake (Thamnophis rufipunctatus), listed as ‘Threatened’ under the Endangered Species Act (top right).
Sandra Leander
6 SOLS 2016 | VOLUME 12 NO. 1
9. year. Because of the Zoo’s research
on captive squirrels, researchers now
know when that is and can include that
critical information in any conservation
plan for areas in which the squirrel
is found.
Babb-Biernacki discovered firsthand
how valuable zoo research could
be through her own project on the
narrow-headed gartersnake. Because
of the Zoo’s research, students have
learned that a species thought to be
primarily aquatic because it eats fish
actually spends very little of its time in
the water. In fact, it really only enters
the water to hunt. And, she is hoping
to learn even more about this elusive
study organism. Her project involves
measuring growth rates in neonates
and studying differences in behavior
in neonates and adults of reproductive
age — research that has never been
done before on this species.
“Not a lot of research has been done
on them because it’s not easy to follow
a snake around and see where it goes
and what it does,” Babb-Biernacki said.
“They’re very cryptic.You don’t want to
follow a snake for a year. Now, they’re
outside of the wild and you can actually
monitor their behavior and track how
fast they grow.
“We’re doing things that have never
been done before. It’s really nerve-
wracking, but also very exciting.”
This internship has provided Babb-
Biernacki with an exciting and valuable
research experience – all made
possible through this conservation-
focused partnership.
“At ASU, we strive to provide
undergraduates with unique
opportunities to gain hands-on
research experience with scientists
who are at the forefront of their fields,”
said Kevin McGraw, director of the
School of Life Sciences Undergraduate
Research (SOLUR) Program. “Our
partnership with the Phoenix Zoo
is special because they specifically
seek out our students and teach them
a variety of skills in conservation
research that they wouldn’t gain
anywhere else.”
The Phoenix Zoo specifically began
targeting ASU undergraduates in 2009
and now it provides nine internships
each year, three of them paid. Wells
designed an internship program
with four goals in mind: to develop
understanding of animal husbandry
which can help create programs for
release, to understand basic research
concepts, to understand interaction
between research and education,
and to get students involved with
work being done at the Zoo’s
conservation center.
In addition, the center works with
organizations such as Arizona Game
and Fish and U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, where students studying
conservation may want to apply for
jobs after graduation. In addition to
learning new skills, student interns can
make valuable connections that may
further their post-ASU career.
“When I earned my undergrad, I was
thinking I wanted to go into biology, but
I didn’t have a good sense of what that
application was,” Wells said. “I think
these kinds of programs, especially
with these focal points, give an insight
to people going into school as to what
their interests are.”
After graduation, Babb-Biernacki
plans to continue pursuing a career in
conservation science and would like to
work in a conservation center similar to
the one where she spent her summer,
as long as, like the Phoenix Zoo, there
is a fieldwork component.
“I’ve wanted to work in a conservation
center because of the variety of things
you get to do.You get to do field work
and then you get to come back and do
things in a more lab-like environment,”
Babb-Biernacki said. “But I love
fieldwork. I’ve learned that through
the course of my education. I love
going out and getting my hands dirty in
the field.”
As an undergraduate, Babb-Biernacki
fell in love with conservation through
courses offered at the School of
Life Sciences. She remembers
learning about the black-footed ferret
reintroduction program during a
lecture. She wrote a paper about the
conservation of the Mount Graham
squirrel for one of her classes.
And then coincidentally, she got to
study those animals herself. “Doing
internships validates everything that
you learn,” Babb-Biernacki said. “I
actually get to go and see how the
things I’ve been learning about are
applied and see what researchers
are doing. They really speak to one
another: education and experience.
It’s so much more than hearing about
something in a classroom; it’s actually
becoming a part of what you’ve
been learning.”
Conservation efforts by the Phoenix Zoo helped the
Arabian oryx, a native of the Arabian Peninsula, come
back from the brink of extinction. Sandra Leander
7SOLS 2016 | VOLUME 12 NO. 1
10. A Partnership in Plant
Biology and Conservation
New master’s degree grows pool
of plant experts
BY DEVIN PHILLIPS
8 SOLS 2016 | VOLUME 12 NO. 1
11. Quick — without thinking about it, name an endangered
animal. Name two, three or even four. Easy?
Now, name an endangered plant. Two? Three? For many
people, that’s not as easy.
These basal organisms on the tree of life provide us with
practically everything we need to survive in some way or
another. However, in the field of biology, the importance of a
particular topic doesn’t necessarily mean the general public
will pay much attention.
Plants and their conservation lack a certain “sex appeal” in
the mainstream. Over the past several decades, this has
been reflected at many universities as botany degrees have
declined and interest has shifted to the study of plants at a
molecular level.
But the demand for botanists and experts in endangered
plant species has not waned. Indeed, there is an even
greater need as the world faces global warming.
“Plants are an incredibly important part of the ecosystem,”
shared Julie Stromberg, professor with Arizona State
University’s School of Life Sciences. “Unfortunately, people
don’t really think about the fact that plants contribute oxygen,
the food we eat, the materials and fibers we use, as well as
medicines. As a society, we need to look at plants as the
key elements that sustain us, spiritually as well as in more
tangible ways.”
To address the shortage of plant experts, the school recently
launched a new master’s degree program in plant biology
and conservation. The program is part of a national trend,
where a leading botanical garden partners with a university’s
biology department to offer unique teaching and hands-on
research experiences.
ASU is on the cutting edge of that trend, joining forces with
the Desert Botanical Garden to offer the new degree. Now,
plant conservation may find some revitalized support.
“This seems like a real ‘win-win’,” said Kim McCue, co-
director of the degree program and Program Director of
Conservation of Threatened Species and Habitats at Desert
Botanical Garden. “By having a university collaborate with
a botanical garden, we have greater ability to train people
in the botanical sciences, and we know firsthand that these
people are worth training. We live in a unique ecosystem in
the Southwest—the Sonoran Desert. It makes sense to offer
a master’s degree in plant science in a place that has such
value,” she added.
Botanical garden researchers can share their knowledge
through guest lectures, lab experiences and graduate
committees. These resources are unique and would be
difficult to obtain anywhere else. The students can gain
practical experience while getting their feet wet in real-world
research projects.
9SOLS 2016 | VOLUME 12 NO. 1
12. Tyna Yost, a recent graduate of the program, has already
secured a position with the U.S. Forest Service, focusing
on aspects of the National Environmental Policy Act.
“I started taking classes for the nursing program and
quickly discovered that plants are much better patients. I
like to say that they’re smarter than us,” said Yost. “They
can make their own food, depending only on light and
carbon dioxide. Their chemical defenses and rate of
adapting to different environments is just amazing. So I
call them the higher species.”
Stromberg, ASU’s director of the program, stresses the
importance of offering a master’s degree in the field of
plant biology and conservation. While doctorate degrees
are important, she said master’s programs like these are
excellent options to gain experience and move into the
work force more quickly. Many jobs in the plant world
are fit for graduates of master’s programs, such as those
offered by state and federal agencies.
“There are several strengths to our master’s program,”
shared Stromberg. “First is our focus on endangered
plant species. If you look at the IUCN Red List of
threatened species, you will find that most plant species
have yet to be assessed. Many are declining, but few
are being tracked.
“Second, we focus on restoring plants and habitats, in
particular, endangered ecosystems. The Desert Botanical
Garden can participate by providing seeds, propagated
plants and botanical expertise.
“Third, our program is strong in systematics and
understanding phylogenetic relationships, as well as in
ecophysiological studies — examining the roles plants
play in their ecosystems and the mechanisms that
adapt them to their environments. We also focus on
ethnobotanical studies — understanding how people and
plants are co-evolving through time,” added Stromberg.
Degrees like this are good news in the world of plant
conservation. They provide companies and organizations
with more knowledgeable people who care about securing
the future of plants.
Also, Stromberg and Yost agree that too much conservation
attention is focused on issues such as invasive species. They
state that endangered species, as well as dominant plants
that do most of the ‘work’ in ecosystems, should have more
of the botanical limelight.
“It’s easy to point the finger at certain plant species and
say they are the cause of adverse changes, when instead,
they might simply be a reflection of broader environmental
changes such as climate shifts or increasing urbanization,”
Stromberg said. “It’s time to move beyond eradicating
so-called ‘bad’ plants and preserving ‘good’ ones. We need
to recognize the value of all plant species and embrace the
complexity of the ecological relationship between plants
and people.”
Yost specializes in endangered plant species. She hopes
that with the knowledge she gained from the new master’s
degree, she can help maintain the life forms that selflessly
provide for us, as well as help cultivate greater attention
to the fact that we must work harder to conserve these
valuable resources.
“I think it goes back to that awareness and where our
priorities are,” shared Yost. “Even with all our technology,
when it comes down to it, as a species we need certain
things to survive. Food, water, medicine. Plants are a part
of all that. We have to keep that in mind.”
McCue agrees. “We can do all the great science in the world,
but if the greater public doesn’t know why it’s important or
how amazing these plants are, they won’t care. And if they
don’t care, you’re not going to get anywhere,” she added.
“Our partnership with ASU is a major component of that and
I’m just thrilled by it.”
“We need to recognize the value
of all plant species and embrace
the complexity of the ecological
relationship between plants
and people.”
— Julie Stromberg
Professor, Arizona State University School of Life Sciences
10 SOLS 2016 | VOLUME 12 NO. 1
13. Yost (L) and McCue (R) work in the Desert
Botanical Garden herbarium.
Desert Botanical Garden is one of 36
botanic institutions in the U.S. that work
with the Center for Plant Conservation
to conserve native, rare plant species.
Its greenhouse hosts 52 species of rare,
threatened and endangered plants.
Sandra Leander
11SOLS 2016 | VOLUME 12 NO. 1
14. Saving the Loggerheads
The complexities of sea turtle conservation
BY BIANCA ZIETAL
The ocean and its creatures have long fascinated humans,
and who can better attest to this than Jesse Senko, a recent
graduate of Arizona State University’s biology PhD program.
Senko’s interest in marine life emerged when he sailed
out into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Mexico’s Baja
California Peninsula for the first time as an undergraduate,
studying sea turtles in their natural environment.
Sea turtles have been around for nearly 200 million years
— back when the seven continents were a single landmass
known as Pangaea. Today, they can be found in every ocean
but the Arctic and can live as long as 80-100 years.
During her lifetime, a female sea turtle will journey thousands
of miles back to the same beach where she was born to
lay her eggs. She will lay as many as 700 eggs per season.
North Pacific loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta carretta) have
been nesting along coastal areas of Japan for countless
generations. Upon hatching, baby loggerheads immediately
waddle across the sand and into the water, making an
incredible 7,500-mile beeline toward the Pacific coast of the
Baja Peninsula.
It’s a dangerous journey — one that most don’t survive.
“I was tracking a young juvenile green turtle for my master’s
work at the University of Florida,” shared Senko. “The
research was part of an Earthwatch expedition. We named
the turtle ‘Bujia’ which is Spanish for ‘spark-plug.’
“With practically no sleep, we tracked this turtle for several
days and nights until finally, we tracked it to its death — it
had drowned, trapped in a fishing net and unable to surface
to breathe. This was what inspired me to do the work I did
for my PhD here at the School of Life Sciences, and more
generally, my interest in developing applied conservation
solutions.”
Sunset net deployment. A green LED light is attached to the net. Jesse Senko
Loggerhead turtle bycatch. Jesse Senko
12 SOLS 2016 | VOLUME 12 NO. 1
15. Fishing gear easily entangles sea turtles
Today, many species of sea turtle are endangered. Every
year, they are trapped in fishing nets as “bycatch” — the
unintentional killing of non-target animals. Vulnerable and
endangered species including whales, dolphins, seabirds
and manta rays are also frequently fatally ensnared.
Gillnets, a specific type of crosshatched nylon or
monofilament netting, are commonly employed throughout
the world by large and small-scale fisheries alike. The nets
are typically spread out over more than one half-mile and
left to soak for one to two days. As a variety of marine life
attempt to swim through the net, they are entangled and
unable to escape.
One area commonly fished by small-scale fishermen along
the Baja peninsula also happens to be a feeding hot spot
for endangered loggerhead turtles. Fishermen are targeting
halibut and grouper, which eat pelagic red crabs, just like the
sea turtles do. The turtles and the target fish are often found
in the same areas.
Unsurprisingly, many loggerheads are accidentally captured
in gillnets. Senko has observed firsthand this unfortunate
situation, driving home the importance of his research to
find ways to make the deadly gillnets safer for endangered
marine life.
Forging collaborations for research
To carry out a research project for his PhD, Senko set out to
the Baja Peninsula and came to know many local fishermen
who invited him to fish alongside them. Many are third- and
fourth-generation fishermen. Fishing is their only source of
income and they struggle to afford even basic gear.
Senko first began modifying gillnets by removing their
floatation buoys. He then compared their effectiveness
against the unmodified nets used by the fishermen. While
conducting the experiment, seeing the number of dead
turtles was especially disheartening.
“It never gets easier,” Senko shared with a sigh, recalling a
time one fisherman pulled up sixteen drowned sea turtles
from one catch. And this was just one fisherman, on one day,
with one net.
“These fishermen don’t want to be catching sea turtles, they
know it’s illegal and that they’re endangered,” Senko insists.
“But this is the way they put food on their own tables.” Getting
to know them on a personal level allowed Senko to learn
about the challenges they face, as well as witness the tragic
relationship between the fishermen and the turtles — both
just trying to survive.
Loggerheads are returned to the ocean after being removed
from a fishing net. Jesse Senko
Senko and his Mexican colleagues hold LED lights aboard a
local fishing vessel. Jesse Senko
Senko and a fishing colleague hold loggerhead turtles before
releasing them back into the ocean. Jesse Senko
13SOLS 2016 | VOLUME 12 NO. 1
16. Bycatch — the unintended capture
of non-target animals
In most cases, the lifeless turtles and other bycatch are
thrown back to the sea after being cut from the nets.
According to current Mexican law, taking, killing or selling sea
turtles or products made from them is punishable by up to 12
years in prison. However, there is little government oversight
or enforcement in the field.
In the U.S., if a fishery has more bycatch than is legally
allowed under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration policies, it can be immediately shut down. For
example, the Hawaii Longline Fishery closes once all vessels
in its fleet have captured only 34 loggerhead turtles during
the course of one entire season.
According to Senko’s research, the small-scale net fisheries
working in the Baja loggerhead turtle hotspot may be
unintentionally catching as many as 100 to 400 sea turtles
every day during peak fishing season across the fleet, which
are the highest known sea turtle bycatch rates in the world.
While the fishermen are quick to be blamed for harming the
turtles, he emphasized that they are working in a system that
does not incentivize sustainable practices.
“In fact,” said Senko, “the system disincentivizes fishing
sustainably because if you don’t take as much as you can,
your neighbor will. There is very little regulation and virtually
no enforcement; it’s basically a free-for-all.”
Searching for solutions
Earlier this year, Senko and his colleagues published their
research findings and detailed the effect of removing buoys
from gillnets. The researchers found that buoyless nets
reduced average sea turtle bycatch rates by an astounding
68 percent, while retaining much of the “target fish” catch.
And, the modified nets cost less because buoys make up
about 20 percent of total net costs. However, fishermen
made less money with the buoyless nets, so Senko and his
colleagues looked for a better solution.
They tried a second innovative net modification — installing
LED lights along the nets. This illuminated the net so sea
turtles could see it and avoid swimming into it. Senko found
that the lights reduced turtle bycatch by 50 percent, but
only at night. Since the fishermen still had to soak their nets
during daylight to turn a profit, the lighted nets were also not
an optimal solution.
Interestingly, however, the illuminated nets significantly
reduced total bycatch during both daytime and nighttime,
which included not only sea turtles but also squid, non-target
fish, manta rays, sharks, crabs and even target fish species
that were too small to harvest.
Senko believes an even better solution would be to
use modified fish traps instead of gillnets, which would
completely eliminate bycatch of sea turtles and other non-
target species.
“Fish caught in traps are also alive, and so you have a higher
quality product, and we know there is high demand”, says
Senko. “It’s a total win-win, but getting fisherman to convert
gear is difficult.” Senko explained. “Also, having a foreigner tell
you how to do the job you and your family have been doing
all your life is not simple.”
Professor Andrew Smith, a conservation biologist with the
School of Life Sciences who served as Senko’s PhD advisor,
said the complexities of conservation work can be daunting.
“Conservation is not theoretical. It happens on real
landscapes affecting both the trajectories of species
populations as well as the livelihoods of local people,”
said Smith. “Jesse’s strength is his understanding of this
dynamic, and how best to work with both turtles and
fishermen to maximize positive outcomes for both. These
situations are incredibly difficult, but more than ever we need
conservationists like Jesse who can roll up their sleeves to
tackle these complicated situations.”
Ideally, Senko would like for fishermen to bypass the
middlemen and sell their products directly. Such a process
would provide a greater profit that in turn, would incentivize
more sustainable fishing practices.
Senko is beginning a postdoctoral position at ASU with the
School for the Future of Innovation in Society, where he will
continue his research on sustainable fisheries and sea
turtle conservation.
Fishermen pull up huge amounts of bycatch — unintended
fishing targets ensnared in gillnets. Jesse Senko
14 SOLS 2016 | VOLUME 12 NO. 1
17. Inventorying the Ark
A pragmatic approach to extinction
ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes creating
solutions to conserve
BY SCOTT SEKEL
Biological diversity is the variety of life on Earth, ranging from
the microverse of crabs, barnacles and mussels nestled in a
tidal pool to a macroverse of baboons, giraffes and elephants
ranging across savanna and veldt.
And it’s disappearing. Too often we read about another
species in danger of extinction. Ninety-eight percent of tigers
are gone. There are four northern white rhinos left in the
world — three at a conservancy in Kenya and one in the San
Diego Zoo. Thirty percent of frogs are nearing extinction.
Honeybees are vanishing across the globe.
There’s no longer a question of how we’re going to save all
these species. The reality is we’re past that point.
“We can’t save everything,” said Anita Hagy Ferguson,
program coordinator for ASU’s Center for Biodiversity
Outcomes. “We’re not operating in that la-la land. It’s
heartbreaking, but we are operating with real data, with real
reality, and you cannot save everything.You have to make
choices in what to save and how to save it, so that we can
move quickly.”
The center, housed in both the School of Life Sciences and
the Global Institute of Sustainability, was created a year ago
to pragmatically stem the tide of loss in what has been called
the Sixth Extinction. Its mission is to make discoveries and
create solutions to conserve, where possible, and to manage
biodiversity for the long term as the world rapidly changes.
freeimages.com
15SOLS 2016 | VOLUME 12 NO. 1
18. “If we don’t have anyone who can
understand nature, how can we
protect it?” said founding director
Leah Gerber, a marine conservation
biologist and professor with the School
of Life Sciences.
The center’s research focuses on
five areas: biodiversity assessment
and decision tools; governance and
biodiversity; advancing corporate
sustainability; public health and
biodiversity; and engagement of
underserved youth.
Educating two groups with little
knowledge of nature — decision
makers in business and government,
and underserved youth — is the key
behind those five research areas,
Gerber said.
How will the center know it’s making
a difference? When corporations
automatically think about their impact
on the natural world, when government
agencies and conservation groups ask
for help in solving problems, and when
young people who traditionally aren’t
involved with the natural world choose
careers in conservation biology.
“As far as success, our metrics are
impacts on decisions, on society and
on building our capacity to address
biodiversity challenges,” Gerber said.
New methods
Conservation scientists know they’re
losing the fight. Traditional methods,
like roping off a habitat and telling
people “hands-off,” aren’t working.
“A big reason is because biodiversity
conservation problems aren’t really
problems inherent with the animals and
plants,” Hagy Ferguson said. “They’re
human-social problems.
“We want to work with the local people
who live in those places where those
species live. We want to work with
people who fish for a certain kind of
fish that’s going extinct. Even though
it’s a resource, they have an interest
in its conservation from a resource
perspective. Our objective is to work on
multiple scales.”
Going out and studying something
and tossing results back to interested
parties hasn’t worked for conservation
biologists either.
Instead of coming down from the
mount of academia and bestowing
knowledge, the center’s approach is
to go to the outside world and ask
questions. What kinds of problems
do you have, and how can we help?
What is your need? Researchers offer
questions in a scientific framework,
applying rigorous methodology. They
then go back and say, “Here is how
we’re going to answer this question.
What do you think? How can you work
with us?”
“Even when people make an effort to
communicate science to the public, it’s
difficult to do it in a way that’s meaningful
to them,” Hagy Ferguson said.
When Gerber meets with non-
profit organizations and other non-
governmental groups, she often hears
this: “I need a decision on this thing
that needs to be made tomorrow and I
have no data.”
Two ways the center aims to answer
that type of query are with tools and
people. “There’s a very practical way
we’re trying to make some inroads and
stem the flow of loss,” Hagy Ferguson
said.
Decision-making tools
The general public cares about
biodiversity. It reflects well on a
corporation — it’s one reason why
Dawn puts pictures of seals on bottles
of soap. Coca-Cola has an intensive
water-conservation campaign and plan.
It looks good for them but they are also
aware that if there’s no water, there’s
no Coke either.
The Dow Jones Sustainability Indices
are a sign it’s an important issue in
the corporate world. Launched in
1999, the family of indices evaluates
the performance of 2,500 companies
based on an analysis of economic,
environmental and social performance,
assessing issues such as corporate
governance, risk management,
branding, climate-change mitigation,
supply-chain standards and labor
practices. The trend is to reject
companies that do not operate in a
sustainable and ethical manner. British
Petroleum was booted off in 2010, 40
days after the Deepwater Horizon blew
up in the Gulf of Mexico.
However, many corporations have
no idea how to go about becoming
sustainable.
Local students observing quetzals in the Andes. Andrew Smith
16 SOLS 2016 | VOLUME 12 NO. 1
19. What Gerber recognized was a
demand from the corporate sector on
data and analytics.
“Not that necessarily the corporations
altruistically care, but a lot of
shareholders want to make socially
responsible choices, so there’s a
demand,” she said. “But they’re not
scientists. They don’t have the capacity.
So we have this opportunity to provide
relevant information and to provide new
tools that can be used. I would define
success as large corporations using
tools that consider nature’s services
and resources in everyday operations.”
The first tool created by the center was
a water decision-making tool. This tool
will help corporations assess risks to
the public, the environment and their
business associated with their water
use. It was presented to the World
Business Council for Sustainable
Development in Paris last December.
The center is also creating a
biodiversity offsets tool. A logging
company using it might decide to cut
down five trees in one area, but to
plant five others in another area.
“What we’re trying to do is to get
them closer to doing that equal thing,”
Hagy Ferguson said. “Help people to
recognize that the place you actually
want to pull out trees is a super-
biodiverse area.
“It might not even be a tree-for-tree
thing; it might be we’re going to take
these trees and contribute to the tiger
fund. It’s trying to see if we can have
corporations replace the impact in
some way... The tool helps them make
decisions, but it also protects their
bottom line.”
Another focus of the center is to
produce highly trained scientists
who will have an immediate impact
in a field that is beginning to seek
them. Traditionally, graduating with a
conservation biology degree meant
either academia or a competitive job
market with few openings.
Non-profits such as the Nature
Conservancy, the National Wildlife
Federation, and Conservation
Platform supply vessels battle the blazing remnants of British Petroleum’s off shore oil
rig Deepwater Horizon. April 20, 2010 U.S. Coast Guard
International all have programs
targeted at youth.
“What we’re going to do is grab those
youth and pull them through college,
and then they’re going to pull them
back from us when they’ve gone
through our program and give them
jobs,” Hagy Ferguson said.
The International Union for
Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
is the largest professional global
conservation network, with almost
11,000 scientists volunteering. Most
people know it from its Red List,
which usually appears in the news as
a headline that something is on the
verge of extinction. More specifically
the Red List tells the world what’s
looking good and what’s not for a
particular species. The IUCN is doing a
worldwide inventory of everything.
“We can’t make decisions about what
to save if we don’t know what we
have,” Hagy Ferguson said. “Doing
the assessing and Red Listing is a
very particular methodology, and you
have to be specially trained for it. They
are the global standard because their
data is good data, and their data is
good data because they follow a very
rigorous standard. It’s reliable.”
The center, which has several faculty
affiliates who work with IUCN, is
providing IUCN training.
“What we want to do is position ASU
as an IUCN training center,” she said.
“We’ll train people for Red Listing,
which gets students out in the field and
learning a practical methodology.”
The center has big goals and small,
specific ways of moving towards them.
“I am confident we’re going to get
there in the next couple of years,”
Gerber said.
17SOLS 2016 | VOLUME 12 NO. 1
20. ASU biologist
floats idea of
whale-hunting
compromise BY SCOTT SEKEL
Two Minke whales are dragged aboard the Nisshin
Maru, a Japanese whaling vessel that is the world’s only
factory whaling ship. Australian Customs and Border
Protection Service
18 SOLS 2016 | VOLUME 12 NO. 1
21. Is it time to cut a deal with
Japan on whaling?
The three-decade international
moratorium on commercial whaling
isn’t working. Animal-rights activists
insist the ban remain absolute, while
the three rogue nations still pursuing
the world’s largest mammals refuse to
quit hunting.
Leah Gerber, a marine conservation
biologist, professor at Arizona State
University’s School of Life Sciences
and founding director of ASU’s
Center for Biodiversity Outcomes,
floated the idea of a compromise in
the September 2015 issue of the
journal Frontiers in Ecology and
the Environment.
Rebounding whale populations, the
predominance of other threats, and
stubborn stakeholders make the
moratorium a “failed management
system,” Gerber said. The past 30
years of the International Whaling
Commission’s conversation has been
stalled by disagreement on the ethics
of killing whales.
“It really boils down to an ethical
argument: that it’s not right to kill a
whale,” Gerber said. “Personally I don’t
like the idea of killing a whale, but
that’s my value, and other people have
other values. Insisting on our values in
discussions about whaling has resulted
in a global stalemate.”
Changing course and allowing Iceland,
Japan and Norway to legally hunt
under regulations and monitoring might
break the current stalemate. Currently
Japan whales under a loophole
allowing for scientific research. The
other two countries hunt whales
commercially in protest of the ban.
“If our common goal is a healthy and
sustainable population of whales, let’s
find a way to develop strategies that
achieve that,” Gerber said. “That may
involve agreeing to a small level of
take. That would certainly be a reduced
take to what’s happening now.”
Since the moratorium was declared
in 1982 and begun in 1985, whale
populations have rebounded across
the board, Gerber said.
“Overall the whaling that’s happening
is not threatening any population,”
she said.
“With the exception of the J stock (a
population that lives in the East China
Sea, the Sea of Japan and the Yellow
Sea) of minke whales, current levels
of take are fairly sustainable.”
The appetite for whale meat has
been on the decline in Japan. An April
2014 poll by Asahi Shimbun, Japan’s
newspaper of record, revealed that
14 percent of respondents
occasionally or rarely ate whale
meat. Thirty-seven percent said
they never ate it. Consumption in
Japan peaked in the 1960s and has
steadily decreased; today, whale-meat
consumption is about 1 percent of its
peak, according to the International
Fund for Animal Welfare.
The Japanese have argued that
it’s part of their cultural heritage.
They also call American protests
hypocritical because Alaskan Inuit
tribe members hunt whales every year.
Norwegians have eaten whale
meat since medieval times, but that
habit has slowed in more recent
times. Whale was served in school
cafeterias and as military rations
during the 1970s and 1980s, making
it the mystery meat for a generation
that won’t touch it anymore. It’s seen
as something your grandparents ate.
Oddly, it’s enjoying a renaissance
among young Norwegian foodies.
The 2015 catch netted about 700 tons
of whale meat, while the Norwegian
market won’t bear much more than
500 tons.
“Good catch is all very well, but we
have challenges in the market,” Åge
Eriksen, CEO of a seafood supply
company, told Norwegian public
broadcaster NRK last year. “We’ve got
more meat on land than we can sell,
and it is not a desirable situation.”
Minke whales in the Southern
Hemisphere have such a large
population that taking a few wouldn’t be
a big deal, Gerber said.
The media perception of whaling is
often that it’s evil, but there are worse
threats to the whales’ livelihoods,
Gerber said. For instance, she said that
whale mortality numbers are also driven
by the mammals being hit by ships. For
instance, blue whales off the coast of
Long Beach, California, simply didn’t
know to get out of the way of ships,
according to a Stanford University study
released in April. Because they are the
biggest creatures in the sea, they’ve
never had to avoid threats.
Bycatch entanglement, where whales
are snagged in nets, and contaminants
in seawater are two other serious
threats.
“For most populations, whaling actually
makes up a pretty small fraction of
whale deaths,” she said, pointing out
that International Whaling Commission
members know this. “We don’t have to
agree on everything, but let’s take some
baby steps.”
Violent action by animal-rights groups
has not had an effect, either.
“A lot of the non-governmental
organizations such as Greenpeace
and Sea Shepherd raise a lot of money
in advocating for saving whales by
chasing whaling vessels in the open
ocean,” Gerber said. “What success has
that had?”
Japanese whaling delegates have
said they’re open to compromise
arrangements, Gerber said.
“The animal-rights groups, on the
other hand, are like, ‘Nope. My deal or
nothing.’ To me, it’s not the best way to
lead to change.”
19SOLS 2016 | VOLUME 12 NO. 1
23. Pura vida!
In Costa Rica, the national expression ‘pura vida’ has many
interpretations including ‘enjoy life,’‘take it easy,’ and even
‘hello’ and ‘good-bye.’ Yet the literal English translation and
touristic understandings of the phrase are lacking in comparison
to its use by ticos — the Spanish word Costa Ricans use to
describe themselves.
Some ticos say pura vida refers to a way of living — recognizing
that life is good and that whatever your current situation, it can
always be worse for others.
Such is the case for one of that nation’s most formidable icons —
the jaguar.
As the largest of the big cats in South America, the jaguar
(Panthera onca) is a stealthy predator, nimble on land and in the
water. This powerful carnivore dominates its habitat, feeding on
anything from deer and tapirs, to fish and turtles. It can ambush
its prey from the treetops, crushing an animal’s head with its
tremendous jaws.
Male jaguars mark huge swaths of land, each claiming as much as
50 square miles as his territory. A stunning animal with tawny fur
covered in black rosettes, the male can weigh up to 250 pounds.
They are solitary animals, other than during mating and pregnancy
seasons when the male will live with the female.
A female jaguar gives birth to two to four cubs at a time. She
teaches them to hunt after they are six months old. By age two, the
cubs are out living on their own. These beautiful beasts can live 12
to 15 years in the wild.
However, this incredible animal is in serious danger. The jaguar
appears on the IUCN Red List as ‘Near Threatened’ and human
activities, including poaching and deforestation, are the leading
causes of its decline. Current research may indeed show that the
species could qualify for a higher threat category.
“A jaguar needs a huge area to survive,” said Jan Schipper, a
conservation research post-doctoral fellow working in partnership
with Arizona State University’s School of Life Sciences and the
Phoenix Zoo-Arizona Center for Nature Conservation. “There’s not
enough habitat left, so we have to figure out how to use the area
that’s available in a creative way.
“In addition, poaching has been a huge problem for a long time,
partly because there’s not only jaguars, but also puma moving in
and eating goats and sheep. A lack of sufficient natural habitat
pushes these mammals closer to human populations,” he added.
Schipper’s interest in jaguar research began 12 years ago with
collaborators from ProCAT, an international non-profit, non-
governmental organization focused on sustainable conservation
strategies; CATIE, a Costa Rican center for tropical agricultural
research; and the University of Idaho. The National Autonomous
University of Mexico (UNAM) joined their research efforts more
recently. Schipper and other conservation biologists are studying
whether it’s feasible to create a wildlife corridor in Costa Rica that
would allow jaguars the room they need to thrive. Phoenix Zoo
21SOLS 2016 | VOLUME 12 NO. 1
24. High in the top of the rain forest
canopy, the ASU School of Life
Sciences conservation research team
searches for a suitable camera trap
location. Sandra Leander
22 SOLS 2016 | VOLUME 12 NO. 1
25. “We’re trying to understand how the mammals are distributed and
what variables are important to explain how they use this space,”
said José Fernando González-Maya, a member of ProCAT and the
scientific director of Sierra to Sea Institute in Costa Rica, a non-
governmental organization working to improve biodiversity and
human well-being. “We want to understand how human influence,
in terms of hunting and in terms of all the modifications they do to
the habitats, how they affect animals using this space.”
Human impact
In Costa Rica, as in many countries, it’s easy to see the negative
impact Homo sapiens have on animals and their habitats.
In addition to the creation of towns, cities and freeways, humans
use land for agriculture, cattle ranching and coffee plantations,
among other things. In addition, hundreds of thousands of acres
of tropical rain forests are clear-cut to make room for African oil
palm plantations, which provide fruit used to create palm oil — an
edible vegetable oil. Used in everything from crackers and candles
to cosmetics and biofuels, palm oil has become one of the largest
agricultural industries in Costa Rica.
Poachers regularly kill jaguar
and puma for their pelts and
for trophy hunting, as well
as to keep the big cats from
eating goats and sheep.
José González-Maya
José González-Maya
23SOLS 2016 | VOLUME 12 NO. 1
26. The deforestation created by this industry, along with the creation
of banana, pineapple and in some cases coffee plantations, has
pushed jaguars out of their habitats and into increased conflict with
humans. Poaching, whether for trophy hunting or to keep the big
cats from killing cattle and sheep, is a serious problem.
Schipper explains: “I think the problems we have here really
epitomize the problems that we have across the range of the jaguar.
Shrinking area. Lack of enforcement in national parks. There’s a
lot of parks in Costa Rica, but unfortunately, some of them are
very remote and don’t get the same level of support that they need
to actually protect the parks from poachers going in, which is an
incredibly challenging problem.”
Creating Wildlife Corridors
Schipper and González-Maya are part of a larger, ongoing effort
in the Latin American country to preserve what remains of the
critical, tropical habitat and also protect the species that live
there. Many animals living in the Costa Rican rain forest need
a cohesive environment to survive and thrive, but with habitats
becoming smaller and more and more fragmented, it’s critical for
the researchers to find new solutions that can be implemented in
the near future.
“One of the key aspects of our study is to actually design and
understand how a biological corridor works, and how we can
connect the higher parts of this country to the lower parts in the
low lands, connecting protected areas and allowing animals to
move throughout the landscape and providing them with all the
ecosystem services they need to survive,” said González-Maya.
To help understand how the animals are moving within the area,
the researchers use camera traps mounted in strategic locations
to gather data. But to set up the cameras, the scientists needed to
develop new relationships with partner organizations, specifically
those with an interest in conservation.
Tropical rain forests are clear cut to plant
African oil palm plantations and build
cattle ranches. Sandra Leander
(Below) Examples of animals captured
by Schipper’s camera traps.
Durham cattle Sandra Leander Jaguar (Panthera onca)
White-lipped peccary
(Tayassu pecari)24 SOLS 2016 | VOLUME 12 NO. 1
27. The researchers knew of a 600-
acre parcel of land located within
the Amistosa corridor. The parcel,
previously slated to be clear-cut, was
purchased more than a decade ago by
new owners who had different plans for
the property. Schipper and González-
Maya eventually partnered with Finca
Bellavista, a sustainable tree house
community situated between the two
sites the researchers are trying to
connect. Their hope is that jaguar and
other species can use the land to move
between the national parks.
“We are proposing to connect La
Amistad in the Talamancan Highlands
with Corcovado National Park on the
Osa peninsula, two large national
parks which have jaguar populations,”
said Schipper. “La Amistad has a
relatively large jaguar population which
we’ve been studying for more than
10 years. The Osa has a very small
population mostly due to hunting,
poaching and loss of habitat.”
Finca Bellavista is a non-traditional
residential community that features
sustainable tree houses used for year-
round living and tourism, as well as an
infrastructure with trails, bridges and
zip lines rather than roads and fences.
“This will never be a pristine piece of
rainforest, but it doesn’t mean that it
can’t be a thriving and healthy home
for a lot of the animals that thrive in
secondary growth rainforest,” said
Erica Elise Andrews, co-owner of the
development. “We want our property
to be a centerpiece, something
we can show off to the rest of the
world as a working model of living
sustainably within a migration corridor,
and within critical habitat that also
provides opportunities for research and
connectivity.”
Schipper’s research team has access
to the land and its resources — critical
to gathering their data.
“I think we are uniquely collaborative.
This is a multi-faceted problem that
needs more than interdisciplinary
efforts. We’re working with biodiversity,
economic incentives and agriculture
and we’re trying to piece it all together
in this biological corridor. Finca
Zancudo beach. In the
distance, the Osa Peninsula.
Pan-American highway
Hoffmann’s two-toed sloth
(Choloepus hoffmanni)
Jaguar (Panthera onca)
Tayra (Eira barbara)
Pair of puma (Puma concolor),
likely juveniles and mom close by.
25SOLS 2016 | VOLUME 12 NO. 1
28. Bellavista is a key component in
the landscape and we’re hoping the
animals will move along this trajectory,”
said Schipper.
Studying the Jaguar
Jaguar, puma, ocelot, tapirs, howler
monkeys, sloths, reptiles and a host
of other animals thrive in Costa Rica’s
jungles. They are well suited for life
in this dense, tropical landscape. But
studying these animals is often difficult.
Schipper and González-Maya, along
with other researchers, have placed
hundreds of camera traps throughout
several strategic corridor locations. The
motion- and heat-activated cameras
take hundreds of thousands of animal
images, along with some disturbing
images of poachers and smugglers.
Setting up the cameras in places likely
to capture useful images is no small
feat. First, the scientists must find
suitable locations and then travel to
them, often on foot and carrying large,
heavy packs of gear. Research days
are filled with planning, hiking, driving,
climbing and camping. Multiple crews
must coordinate efforts so they don’t
duplicate camera coverage. Later, the
teams return to each site to gather
memory cards or retrieve cameras.
“I’m assisting in setting up the camera
traps,” said Chelsey Tellez, a School
of Life Sciences graduate and research
assistant on the project. “I’ll set the
date and time and input the GPS
coordinates. We generally look for
trails that are game trails, or trails that
animals may take. We try to find a
tree sturdy enough to hold the camera
and then set it up to capture as many
animal images as we can.”
Hiking through dense foliage makes
it difficult to cover long distances. At
Finca Bellavista, the crew uses existing
zip lines to reach the top of the canopy.
“In addition to jaguar conservation, we
are also looking at how species move
across roads and other features in
the corridor. We’re looking at whether
cables are an effective way for animals
to get from one side of the road to the
other. Arboreal mammals, specifically
primates, kinkajous, small carnivores
and other animals that live in the
canopy, have a hard time crossing the
roads and surviving. Creating a cable
system may be helpful in connecting
habitats,” said Schipper.
Co-owner Matt Hogan said they have
seen many animal species return to
their land by allowing the forest to be
a forest and by keeping the poachers
at bay.
“It’s really exciting to see the animals,
especially the nocturnal ones that are
moving around all night when we are
sleeping. Sometimes we hear them
and sometimes we don’t. By camera,
we’ve captured everything from pumas
and ocelots to sloths and kinkajous —
all kinds of different critters,” he shared.
Jaguar track
Sandra Leander
The researchers travel by zip line between
tree houses to set camera traps at the top
of the canopy. Sandra Leander
González-Maya (back L) and Schipper (back middle) work with
an international team of researchers to gather data on jaguar
and other species. Sandra Leander
Tree house
Sandra Leander
26 SOLS 2016 | VOLUME 12 NO. 1
29. Tellez (L) and Schipper (R) set a
camera trap. Sandra Leander
27SOLS 2016 | VOLUME 12 NO. 1
30. Private Jaguar Conservation
The research team also joined forces
with a private jaguar conservation
effort centered at Las Alturas del
Bosque Verde — a sprawling, 32,000-
acre ranch in the southwestern part of
the country. Here, armed guards who
live on the property work around the
clock protecting a large population of
jaguar from poachers.
“This situation is fairly unique. We’re
talking about doing conservation on
private land outside a protected area
like a national park, so this becomes
a different challenge,” Schipper
shared. “This farm is the upper
anchor to the proposed corridor.
The Osa peninsula and Corcovado
National Park create the lower anchor.
These two points are where we are
synthesizing this corridor.”
Several hundred residents also live on
the property in a tiny village, much like
they did 50 or 60 years ago. Schipper
and González-Maya often reach out
to the community, teaching school
children about the animals that live in
their backyard.
“It’s really complex because you
need to consider all the interests
people have in using the landscape
for obviously, economic and social
reasons. But then, you have the
cultural aspect of conservation,
which is how people approach the
nature, how people use nature and
how people benefit from nature. At
the end, conservation only works
when you involve people and help
them understand that they need the
ecosystems to survive,” said
González-Maya.
Ultimately, both humans and the jaguar
need the rain forests to survive. But
the jaguar’s fate may also depend on
whether a culture and the mindset of
younger generations can be changed
to reflect the importance of conserving
the big cats and the forests.
“Reaching the children is an important
impact we can have. We hope the kids
go home and tell their parents what
they’ve learned, and maybe, if their
dad is a poacher or hunter, the kids
can apply a little pressure,” declared
Schipper. “Maybe over time, changing
the mentality people have will reach
a newer generation that will not want
to hunt jaguar. Maybe they can give
up some of the habits of the older
generation in terms of illegal poaching,
hunting and cutting down the forest.”
Update: Schipper’s research team
has completed a draft of its proposed
wildlife corridor in Costa Rica. Now,
the team is refining the borders,
deciding who to work with and what
conservation strategies to employ.
Jan Schipper is a Conservation
Research Postdoctoral Fellow in a
partnership between ASU School
of Life Sciences and Phoenix
Zoo-Arizona Center for Nature
Conservation.The Mikelberg Family
Foundation, Las Alturas del Bosque
Verde, ProCAT, Phoenix Zoo and
Arizona State University helped make
this research project possible.
Clockwise: Armed guards protect a population of jaguar at Las Alturas del Bosque Verde. José González-Maya; The village of
Las Alturas; Children of Las Alturas. Sandra Leander; Proposed wildlife corridor across southern Costa Rica. Jan Schipper
28 SOLS 2016 | VOLUME 12 NO. 1
31. Between Two Ridges
The Changing Landscape
of Pika Conservation in China
BY PIERCE HUTTON
The benefits of biodiversity
conservation, and the costs of its
neglect, are interests that transcend
national borders. Few know this as
well as Andrew Smith, professor
with the School of Life Sciences at
Arizona State University. Smith has
spent his entire career, beginning
with his senior thesis at Berkeley,
studying characteristic members of
the lagomorph family: the pikas.
Many of these small, furry animals
reside in Asia. Smith explains that
pikas (Ochotona iliensis) can be
easily divided into two categories:
rock-dwelling and meadow pikas.
“Their life histories are completely
different,” said Smith. “Rock-dwelling
pikas have low reproduction, and
are long-lived. On the other hand,
meadow pikas, such as the plateau
pika, are considered by the Chinese
government to be an agricultural
pest due to their high reproductive
capacity and abundance.”
To suppress large populations
of pikas that thrive on the high
alpine grasslands of the Qinghai- A plateau pika moves across the snow. Andrew Smith
29SOLS 2016 | VOLUME 12 NO. 1
32. Tibetan Plateau, Chinese agricultural
agencies have distributed poison
throughout massive swaths of land.
Indeed, the poisoning worked too well
— killing not only pikas, but seriously
compromising much of the biodiversity
on the plateau as well as its potential
for ecological sustainability.
“In China I wear many hats,” Smith
says, in reference to his roles as a
behavioral ecologist, conservationist
and instigator of political change.
For example, as part of the China
Council Biodiversity Working Group,
he was among the first to suggest
more sustainable methods for timber
harvesting, shortly before a massive
loss of life and property from flooding
along the Yangtze River that resulted
from the clear-cutting of primary
growth forest. This then led to a ban
on the harvest of primary growth trees
in China.
In 1999, Smith co-published a
paper with ASU doctoral student
Marc Foggin in the journal “Animal
Conservation” that introduced the
plateau pika as a ‘keystone’ species.
“It’s really clear if you poison the pika,
all the native birds that nest in pika
burrows, and all the mammalian and
avian carnivores that rely on the pika
for food, will disappear,” said Smith.
Soon after his paper was published,
the Chinese Academy of Sciences
translated the article and had it
read aloud before voting on whether
the pika was a keystone species
or a pest. Although the academics
overwhelmingly supported its
newfound status, poisoning campaigns
continued.
Much of this poisoning has occurred
in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, which
is an enormous watershed in western
China that covers approximately 25
percent of the country. More than 1.4
billion people depend on the proper
functioning of this so-called “Water
Tower of Asia.” This situation garnered
the interest of ASU graduate student
Maxwell Wilson. Wilson studied
for his Master’s degree with Smith,
and is now completing his PhD with
Jianguo Wu, a landscape ecologist
who is also a professor with the
School of Life Sciences.
Wilson became interested in how
the plateau pika, which dig burrows,
influence the hydrology of the
region. He developed techniques for
measuring the infiltration rates of
water on sites that had been heavily
poisoned, and on sites that had not
been poisoned (where pika were
abundant).
“Even without statistics, our results
are quite clear,” said Wilson. “Where
the pikas are poisoned, burrows
collapse and the ground cannot
quickly absorb water. This may cause
damaging overland runoff — basically,
massive amounts of water moving
unrestricted across a sloping terrain.”
Professor Andrew Smith discusses research with School of Life Sciences
graduate and local resident, professor Badingqiuying. Maxwell Wilson
30 SOLS 2016 | VOLUME 12 NO. 1
33. Wilson and Smith, who have dubbed
their work as one of the few examples
of ecohydrology, both note that this
recent result has turned the heads of
Chinese academics and politicians
alike. Wilson makes the point that
with his findings on water infiltration
rates, the list of reasons for continuing
to poison plateau pikas is rapidly
dwindling. “Everything in China
happens really quickly,” Wilson noted
about the shift in attitudes toward
biodiversity conservation. “Since we
began work there in 2010, there has
already been a noticeable change in
the relationship between the public and
wild animals.”
Domesticated yak cross a small stream. Andrew Smith
Clockwise: A pika sits next to research
equipment; Himalayan blue poppy;
plateau pikas participate in many social
behaviors, such as nose rubbing.
Maxwell Wilson
Andrew Smith Andrew Smith
31SOLS 2016 | VOLUME 12 NO. 1
34. Smith and Wilson have made
tremendous strides toward working
with the Chinese on proper
management of the abundant and
rapidly reproducing plateau pika. But
many miles away, in the Tian Shan
mountains in northwest China, another
pika species presents a problem that is
nearly opposite that of the plateau pika.
The Ili pika (Ochotona iliensis) is an
asocial, rock-dwelling species that had
seemingly faded out of existence. It
was discovered in 1982 by a Chinese
researcher named Li Weidong, but he
would not see another living Ili pika
for more than 20 years. Until recently,
the only clues that suggested their
continued existence were the hay
piles this species constructs and
fresh dung.
Smith, who met Li in 1988, has
worked closely with him and
supported his work.
During one of Li’s recent expeditions
to estimate the remaining numbers
of Ili pika, one of the rusty-eared
critters not only came into his sight,
but also bounded across his boot!
Unfortunately, influencing political
change for this particular pika has
proven even more difficult than
32 SOLS 2016 | VOLUME 12 NO. 1
35. finding the animals. His efforts to
push for protected areas have fallen
on deaf ears.
What has caused the decline of the
Ili pika?
“I think the main cause is the
increasing population pressure of
local pastoralists,” said Smith. “They
have mastiff dogs which basically are
kept on these thick, chain leashes
during the day and they’re taken off
at night to keep the wolves away.”
Apparently, Smith added, these
mastiffs may forage on local wildlife,
which could include the endangered Ili
pika. However, it’s difficult to pinpoint
the cause because as Smith puts
pointedly, “If you haven’t seen the
animal in 20 years, how can you say
scientifically, what has caused this?”
Although the trigger for this animal’s
precipitous decline is unclear, what
is certain is that without further
investigation or intervention, the
lagomorph family may soon find itself
a member short.
Maxwell Wilson measures the
infiltration rate of water near Dawu,
Qinghai, China. Maxwell Wilson
33SOLS 2016 | VOLUME 12 NO. 1
36. ALUMNI
Preserving the planet
BY JASON KRELL
When Libby Larson was a child
growing up in Connecticut, she
had little interest in nature. Her mother
tells her that she didn’t even like to
go outdoors.
Surprising for someone who has spent
much her adult life outside — as an
ecologist!
It wasn’t until Larson, a School of
Life Sciences alumna, volunteered
for a wetlands cleanup in Boston
— where she lived after earning an
undergraduate degree in history — that
the idea of pursuing ecology occurred
to her. During the cleanup, she said
she discovered an entire world she
never knew could exist within a city.
“A lot of people have this idea that
nature only exists outside of cities,”
Larson said. “I was really excited
to learn a new perspective on the
environment around me.”
She went back to school to make
ecology her life’s work. After taking
prerequisite courses and applying to
graduate school, she chose Arizona
State University for its openness and
interdisciplinary nature. She said she
enjoyed feeling like she could talk to
anyone from any area of science
about anything.
“That’s not something that’s universally
true at other universities,” Larson said.
“I found SOLS to be an awesome place
to be on a lot of different levels.”
Larson joined School of Life Sciences
professor Nancy Grimm’s lab and
worked on a number of projects with
the Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-
Term Ecological Research project and
the National Science Foundation’s
Integrative Graduate Education
and Research Traineeship in Urban
Ecology. In 2010, she completed ASU’s
PhD program in urban ecology.
More than anything, Larson credits
her success to the extra-curricular
activities in Grimm’s lab. She learned
how to parse scientific literature during
reading groups, which were often
set up to be fun and engaging. Since
Larson came from an undergraduate
experience without ever writing
a single lab report, that kind of
assistance with academic acclimation
was crucial to her success.
Her favorite part of the experience, she
said, was getting to work with so many
other scientists from other fields.
“It wasn’t until I left ASU that I realized
it’s way ahead of the curve when it
comes to interdisciplinary research,”
Larson said. “It’s really pretty special
and, unfortunately, unique.”
Since graduating, Larson found a
home at NASA through the American
Association for the Advancement of
Science’s science and technology
policy fellowship. The program places
PhD holders at federal agencies where
they can help bring a more scientific
perspective to policy-making.
On a daily basis, Larson is helping
NASA find the scientists who want
to study some of the most important
ecological questions facing the country
today. By facilitating and providing
funding for research that may help
preserve the planet, Larson said she
couldn’t be happier with the path she
has chosen.
Life sciences alumna Libby Larson
works at NASA and decides which
ecology research projects to fund.
Katherine Striano
34 SOLS 2016 | VOLUME 12 NO. 1
37. Evolutionary biologist Justin Congdon
arrived at Arizona State University in
1972 and the timing could not have
been better. As a graduate student
with the Department of Zoology, his
studies coincided with the temporary
stay of professor Donald Tinkle — the
university’s Maytag Professor and
expert in evolutionary biology. Since
Tinkle’s appointment was only for one
year, if Congdon had waited to enroll,
he never would have taken the class
that changed his life.
Congdon took an evolutionary ecology
class taught by Tinkle and to this day,
says it was his favorite part of ASU. He
describes the class as an “eye-opener.”
He enjoyed working with Tinkle so
much that he volunteered to help with
field studies. Eventually, he was hired.
Studying under such a big name in
the fields of herpetology, ecology and
evolutionary biology pushed Congdon
and his peers to work harder than
ever before.
“We were lucky enough to have a
good group of graduate students and
that was special,” Congdon said. “We
encouraged each other; we stimulated
each other.”
While researching methods to measure
the reproductive efforts of lizards in the
Chiricahua Mountains in southeastern
Arizona, Congdon co-published more
than 10 papers in several renowned
scientific journals. Because of that
hard work, he received an offer to
join the University of Michigan as a
post-doctoral researcher and work with
Tinkle, despite not actually finishing his
PhD program.
Congdon didn’t come back to Arizona
for decades. It wasn’t until he began
missing ASU and the Chiricahua
Mountains that he found a reason
to return.
ALUMNI
Passion for science evolves into
helping next generation
BY JASON KRELL
He started a study on the Sonora
mud turtle, which only had four
papers written about the species
before Congdon’s 1990 project.
After retiring from a research
scientist position at the University of
Georgia’s Savannah River Ecology
Laboratory, Congdon came back to
Arizona to stay.
After his return, Congdon felt a
need to start giving back to ASU.
He said he frequently contributed
to scholarship funds at other
universities and he loved helping
the next generation of students. To
date, Congdon and his wife have
provided more than $16,000 to fund
vertebrate research at the School of
Life Sciences.
“Other people helped us when we were
students, we appreciated it and now
we’re trying to help the next generation
be successful,” Congdon said. “I don’t
know about other people, but I’ve seen
graduate students go on to do some
really great things, and a couple have
just startled me with how talented they
were. It’s just really nice to help make
that possible for students.”
Though he retired some time ago,
Congdon still finds it important to
stay involved in ecological sciences.
Whether by continuing his research
or making sure others in the School
of Life Sciences can afford their own
projects, he said he doesn’t plan on
stopping any time soon.
After his mentor Donald Tinkle
passed away in the late ‘70s, life
sciences alumus Justin Congdon
took over his turtle research project
at the University of Michigan. The
study continued for 33 years longer
under Congdon. Owen Kinney
35SOLS 2016 | VOLUME 12 NO. 1
38. ALUMNI
Fishing for Solutions
BY JASON KRELL
Life sciences alumnus Evan Carson studies endangered freshwater fish and
teaches communities in northern Mexico about the threats facing those species.
Lissette Sepúlveda
When Evan Carson first started
researching freshwater fish in the
desert springs of northern Mexico, he
realized many species were in danger
of extinction. Local communities use
a tremendous amount of water from
the springs at Cuatro Ciénegas —
threatening the native wildlife.
But with research skills he learned
at Arizona State University, Carson
has helped those same communities
understand why the local plant and
animal species in their valley are
worth protecting. Carson, currently a
research assistant professor with the
University of New Mexico, regularly
shares his research findings with
local conservation groups and land-
managers that have the power to
create positive change.
Carson said he didn’t always intend to
take such an active role in preserving
threatened species. As a young child,
he had a fascination with wildlife, but
it wasn’t until he got older that he
realized he wanted to protect it. When
he had an opportunity to join ASU’s
biology PhD program and study with
then professor Thomas Dowling, he
jumped at the chance.
“A lot of people around the Southwest
were doing really good work, but I
thought Tom’s team was the best,” said
Carson, an ASU Class of ’05 graduate.
“I felt I could go to people with the
School of Life Sciences, who all had
very different expertises, and learn a
lot from them.”
Carson first conducted research in
northern Mexico through a school
project. As a graduate student, he
traveled with the late professor W. L.
Minckley to the Chihuahuan Desert
to study unique organisms at Cuatro
Ciénegas. There he saw the incredible
diversity of the desert fishes, but
quickly realized how they were being
threatened by local farming practices.
“The more I came to understand how
many of these species could actually
be wiped out, the more concerned
I got,” Carson said. “And many of
them are not only endangered, but
unnecessarily so.”
Much of Carson’s current research is
conducted with that belief in mind.
By working alongside non-governmental
organizations in Mexico such as
ProNatura Noreste, he can partner with
local communities to help bring stability
to endangered ecosystems. Sometimes
that involves educating those who are
damaging the habitats by drawing too
much water out of the desert springs.
Other times, it may mean expanding
existing habitats or even creating
artificial ones.
One of the most interesting things
about habitat restoration, he said, is
how local citizens take pride in the
species unique to their land. According
to Carson, people are eager to learn
more about sustainable agricultural
practices so that the local wildlife can
start to thrive again.
While Carson says his role as a scientist
precludes him from being a true activist,
he said he is satisfied knowing that
his research helps these communities
understand the importance of protecting
the native species found nowhere else
on Earth.
36 SOLS 2016 | VOLUME 12 NO. 1
39. Todd Katzner holds what he believes
to be the first adult Eastern imperial
eagle ever caught on breeding
grounds. Katzner began working with
imperial eagles as a PhD student at
ASU. Peter Bloom
ALUMNI
Birds of a feather
New tracking method for
eagles keeps them out of
harm’s way
BY JASON KRELL
With large, hooked beaks, sharp
talons, and a wingspan of up to 7.5
feet, golden eagles are powerful and
formidable birds of prey.
For biologists who research birds of
prey, trapping and tagging them are
often the most time-consuming and
dangerous part of studying these
incredible animals. In addition, golden
eagles often make their nests in tall
trees or on cliffs along waterways.
“It can take weeks to catch a single
bird and, although rare, an eagle can
be injured during trapping operations,”
said biologist Todd Katzner, a 2003
Arizona State University School of
Life Sciences alumnus who studies
both golden and Eastern imperial
eagles. “As a consequence, it is really
beneficial to find ways to study eagles
without ever trapping them.”
Unfortunately, it was the only option
for scientists who were tracking bird
populations at the time.
But one day, while conducting research
on the ecology of birds of prey in
Kazakhstan, Katzner had an epiphany.
Looking around the ground, he realized
there were Eastern imperial eagle
feathers scattered everywhere.
“I started thinking that since we were
already collecting tissues from the
birds, there had to be something we
could do with these feathers,” said
Katzner, who was a doctoral student at
the time. “So, I started talking to some
geneticists and we realized there was
a critical question we could answer by
using these samples: What is the death
rate of these birds?”
By analyzing the DNA in the feathers
from around a nest, Katzner realized
he could track where every individual
in an eagle population lived without
ever having to directly interact with
the birds.
Since eagles typically stay with
one mate in one nest until they die,
analyzing the feathers over a period of
time can tell researchers whether the
birds in a specific area are thriving or
dying. It also tells them what parts of
a habitat cannot be disturbed without
causing eagles serious harm.
Katzner said no one had been able to
accurately estimate eagle populations
before the creation of this tracking
method. He happily credits the School
of Life Sciences and its faculty for their
contributions to his success.
“I had a really positive experience at
ASU,” Katzner said. “People challenged
me — asked me hard questions. And
I think, at the time, it seemed painful.
But in the long run, it was the best
thing those people could have done
for me.”
After holding several post-doctoral
positions, his dream job became
available at the U.S. Geological Survey.
Today, much of his job centers on
keeping North American golden
eagles safe from a serious threat
— the development of wind energy.
Eagles that fly below certain altitudes
are at great risk of being killed by
wind turbines. His job is to determine
whether it’s safe to build the turbines in
certain habitats, by finding areas where
eagles fly high enough to avoid the
blades. Katzner does this by using his
feather tracking method.
Using the research and tracking skills
he developed at ASU, Katzner said
his efforts to protect the country’s
golden eagle population have already
been successful, while also allowing
the U.S. to safely gather renewable
wind-energy.
“I’m thrilled with what I’ve been able to
accomplish,” Katzner said. “This type of
work is really what I’d hoped graduate
school would allow me to do, and I feel
fortunate that it has all worked out so
well for me.”
37SOLS 2016 | VOLUME 12 NO. 1
40. A Conversation About Conservation
After Preservation: Saving American Nature
In The Age Of Humans
Editor’s note: ASU School of Life Sciences professors Ben Minteer and
Stephen Pyne recently published a unique collection of essays focused on the
future of conservation and environmentalism in light of global climate change
and the Anthropocene.
The pair feature a wide variety of prominent conservation voices from the
perspectives of history, ecology, science journalism, policy and philosophy.These
creative contributions kindle valuable conversations on the future of species and
wildlands, as well as on the challenges of managing our natural resources in an
era of rapid environmental change.
Ben Minteer
Stephen J. Pyne
38 SOLS 2016 | VOLUME 12 NO. 1
41. Q: Why this book?
Ben: This is an idea whose time had
come. We are both concerned about
nature protection and its American
traditions. Me, from the perspective
of ethics, Steve from history. The
Anthropocene means many things, and
a lot of ideas are being batted around
— some of them a bit strange — to
deal with it. We wanted our disciplines
to contribute. And, we wanted the best
of our old traditions identified
and preserved.
Steve: It was Ben’s idea. We had
collaborated on an essay earlier on
pragmatism and conservation —
frankly one of the few collaborations
that left me willing to work with
someone again. I expanded Ben’s
range of disciplines and acted as a
sounding board as we discussed the
character of the essays and of the
anthology as a whole.
Ben: Really, it came together quickly;
pretty painless as these things go.
We were able to enroll some great
minds. They wrote good pieces - very
engaging - and we kept them short,
not more than 2,500 words. We wanted
people to make their point and say
what they wanted with some grace.
Steve: We imagined it as a salon
— a moving conversation among
philosophers, historians, scientists,
writers, agency administrators and
activists. Our contributors really
came through. Our job as editors
was pretty simple.
Ben: Well, not everyone made the
deadlines and a few dropped out. But,
yes, they were professionals. Once we
started collecting drafts and circulating
them among our writers, the discussion
really started to take off.
Steve: And Mark Klett lent a terrific
photo and let us crop it for the cover.
Ben: It’s a stunning image.
Q: What did you conclude?
Ben: We’re not making an argument.
It’s a conversation. Curt Meine believes
this is no time to jettison our hard-won
experience, particularly on wilderness
and biodiversity preservation. Erle Ellis
thinks we have no choice but to “ride
the tiger.”
Steve: And, whatever the power of
our ideas, Norm Christensen and Jack
Ward Thomas note how hard it is to
implement what we want without irony
and blowback. Mostly our contributors
are cautious, or maybe chastened,
about defining the problem and what
we can do about it.
Ben: That’s what distinguishes our
book from the growing herd. We’re not
taking either side.
Steve: We just accept that some
fundamental conditions have changed
and will continue to challenge what we
think and how we act.
Ben: We’re serious, but I hope not
solemn, and we deal with real ideas,
not slogans. “After Preservation” is an
invitation to pause and think carefully.
It’s a meditation, not a call to arms.
Steve: I guess we’re about to find out
if there is an audience for intellectual
non-partisanship or not.
Ben: Right. But at the same time,
it wasn’t all a garden party. Dave
Foreman nearly peeled the paint off
the walls with his repudiation of the
“Anthropoceniacs.”
Steve: That he did.
Q: How did you become interested in
the subject?
Ben: For me, it was a frustration with
the way the Anthropocene debate
seemed to be shaping up. Some
boosters of the idea appeared almost
giddy about the notion of greater
human control of the planet. They
push things too far. But the knee-jerk
preservationist response often avoids
some of the hardest questions. How
do we direct and contain our outsized
influence on the landscape given that
we really can’t turn back the ecological
clock? It looked to me like another
stalemate, and so I began thinking that
we needed to move the discussion into
some new territory.
Steve: For a fire historian, the
transition to the concept of an
Anthropocene is easy. When humanity,
the Earth’s keystone species for fire,
decided to burn lithic landscapes
instead of living ones, the planet’s
natural history underwent a phase
change. Fire is not just a symbolic
index, but a practical one.
Ben: We both wanted to show our
disciplines — the humanities, generally
— had something to contribute. I
just thought it would be interesting if
we could ask some of the best and
brightest a simple question: What’s
living and what’s dead in the idea of
nature preservation?
Steve: Think of our salon as Plato’s
symposium on its feet.
Ben: Much of the discussion must
hinge on values. But we also feel that
it needs to be grounded in a deeper
understanding of history. There’s a
sense in which some of these new
debates are sounding themes that
have divided conservationists for
generations.
Steve: That kind of reflection can get
drowned in the din of cries that we are
amid a crisis. We wanted those voices
heard.
Q: Do you see a sequel?
Ben: We’re discussing possible follow-
up events, maybe a select workshop
on the ground somewhere. And I have
an idea for a second book, a kind
of spin-off project that focuses more
on the photographaphic traditions
surrounding the wild. [Turns to Steve]
What do you think, are you up for
another ride?
Steve: You do the index next time.
39SOLS 2016 | VOLUME 12 NO. 1
42. Faculty Awards and Honors 2015
Richard Gerkin
Joseph Blattman
Hinsby Cadillo-Quiroz Carolyn Compton
Sharon Crook Roy Curtiss III
James Elser Jennifer Fewell
Nico Franz Anne Basham
Leah Gerber
Sara Brownell
Assistant professor Joseph Blattman
was given the Centennial Professorship
Award by the Associated Students of
Arizona State University. The award
honors his innovative approaches to
teaching immunology in undergraduate
courses.
Assistant professor Sara Brownell
was honored with ASU’s Centennial
Professor Award, a university-wide
teaching award aimed at recognizing
engaged scholarship, emerging
leadership, dedication to community
service and demonstration of student-
centered practices. Also, the American
Society for Cell Biology selected one
of her articles for the 2015 Highlights
edition of the CBE-Life Sciences
Education journal.
Assistant professor Hinsby Cadillo-
Quiroz’s proposal to study the
microbial composition of tropical
peatlands was accepted by the Joint
Genome Institute Community Science
Program.
The Pathologist, an online journal for
the field of pathology, named professor
Carolyn Compton as one of the top
100 pathologists in the world.
Associate professor Sharon Crook
was awarded a $1,505,557 grant from
the National Institutes of Health to
further society’s understanding of how
the nervous system works. Crook will
study the nervous system by building
computer models of neurons and
neural circuits.
University Professor Emeritus Roy
Curtiss III was named a fellow of the
National Academy of Inventors for
his long history of inventions through
research and the foundation of multiple
biotech companies.
The ASU School of Life Sciences
awarded Regents’ and Parents’
Association Professor James
Elser with the Teaching Excellence
and Innovation Award. The award
recognizes his innovative teaching in
the BIO 151 course. He also received
the ASU Founders’ Day Research
Achievement Award for his research
on phosphorus sustainability and
ecological stoichiometry.
President’s Professor Jennifer Fewell
was named a fellow of the Berlin
Wissenschaftskolleg for the 2016-17
academic year. During that time, she
will write a book on the evolution and
organization of division of labor in
natural societies.
iDigBio and University of Florida
awarded a $12,669 grant to Nico
Franz, associate professor and curator
of insects at ASU Natural History
Collection, and project coordinator
Anne Basham. The grant will go
toward the development of a computer
application that uses 3D models of
museum specimens.
Professor Leah Gerber was elected
to the Ecological Society of America’s
Board of Governors.
Assistant research professor Richard
Gerkin was named the DREAM
Olfaction Prediction Challenge
Champion. The global competition
tasked entrants with predicting the
smell of compounds by using only their
molecular structure.
Professor Nancy Grimm delivered the
30th Annual Eugene P. Odum lecture
at the University of Georgia. She
presented a talk that synthesized her
more than 35 years of research in the
Southwest, entitled “The Only Certainty
is Change: Reflections on a Stream,
a City and a Public University.” She
also gave this year’s Jenner Memorial
Lecture at the University of North
Carolina and taught a weeklong course
at Michigan State’s Kellogg Biological
Station as an Eminent Ecologist.
40 SOLS 2016 | VOLUME 12 NO. 1
43. Faculty Awards and Honors 2015
Nancy Grimm
Shelley Haydel Jane Maienschein
Marco Mangone Kevin McGraw
Randolph Neese Stephen J. Pyne
Andrew Smith Karen Sweazea
Melissa Wilson Sayres
Jon Harrison
Professor Jon Harrison was given
the August Krogh Distinguished
Lectureship by the Comparative and
Evolutionary Physiology Section of the
American Physiology Society. He will
give a lecture at the 2016 Experimental
Biology meeting. He also received the
the ASU Faculty Women’s Association
Outstanding Faculty award for his
commitment to mentoring.
Associate professor Shelley Haydel
received a number of grants for
her research on tuberculosis. She
was awarded a $40,000 grant from
the Potts Memorial Foundation, a
$200,000 grant from the Robert J.
Kleberg, Jr. and Helen C. Kleberg
Foundation and a $5,000 grant from
the School of Life Sciences Research
Advancement program. She also
earned the ASU College of Liberal Arts
and Sciences Undergraduate Summer
Enrichment Award.
University, Regents’ and President’s
Professor Jane Maienschein was
awarded the David L. Hull Prize by the
International Society for the History,
Philosophy and Social Studies of
Biology. She was recognized as the
person this year who most exemplified
Hull’s commitment to interdisciplinary
scholarship and service.
The National Institutes of Health
awarded assistant professor Marco
Mangone with a $354,238 grant to
map the molecular pathways targeted
by microRNAs, which drive cancer
initiation, progression and metastasis.
Professor Kevin McGraw received
a $19,000 doctoral dissertation
improvement grant from the National
Science Foundation to help support
the research of his graduate student,
Brett Seymoure.
The Human Behavior and Evolution
Society awarded Randolph Neese,
professor and director of the Center
for Evolution and Medicine,
with a Lifetime Career Award
for Distinguished Contribution.
His selection was based on his
contributions to the field of evolutionary
medicine and his efforts to make
evolutionary biology a foundational
part of medical school curriculum.
Regents’ Professor Stephen J. Pyne
was awarded a Recognition of Merit
by the Global Wildland Fire Network
at the 2015 International Wildland Fire
Conference. The award honors his
work as an environmental historian.
He was also recognized for his 28
years of teaching the “Fire Ecosystems
Management” course at the National
Advanced Fire and Resource Institute.
The American Society of
Mammalogists awarded President’s
and Parents Association professor
Andrew Smith with the Aldo Leopold
Award. This honor is given to a well-
established individual who has made a
lasting contribution to the conservation
of mammals and their habitats.
The American Physiological Society
awarded associate professor Karen
Sweazea with the New Investigator
Award in the Comparative and
Evolutionary Physiology section. The
honor recognizes an outstanding
investigator in the early stages of her
career.
The American Genetics Association
has awarded assistant professor
Melissa Wilson Sayres with a $15,000
grant to study the molecular evolution
of sex. The funds will support an ASU-
hosted conference focused on the
molecular and evolutionary biology of
sex determination, sex chromosomes
and recombination.
41SOLS 2016 | VOLUME 12 NO. 1
44. Whale Trust Maui awarded Yayir
Astudillo-Scalia, a doctoral student
studying environmental life sciences,
a $2,500 grant to research humpback
whales in Maui, Hawaii.
PhD candidate Liz Barnes was
awarded a graduate research
fellowship by the National Science
Foundation. From 16,500 applicants,
Barnes was one of 2,000 selected.
Graduate student Stephen Blazie
was awarded the Genetics Society of
America’s Poster Award – Honorable
Mention in the Gene Regulation and
Genomics Category.
ASU awarded doctoral candidate
Evan Brus with the Peabody Family
Memorial Graduate Fellowship. The
$1,242 award will fund the cost of his
doctoral research on the transmission
and persistence of chytridiomycosis.
Doctoral candidate George Brusch IV
was awarded a $750 grant as a part of
the Arizona State University Graduate
and Professional Student Association’s
Graduate Education, Graduate
Research and Support Program. This
will help Brusch travel to the Bahamas
to study eco-tourism impacts on
marine iguanas.
Graduate student Steffen Buessecker
was awarded a $600 travel grant from
NASA to attend this year’s Astrobiology
Science Conference in Chicago.
The Rob and Melanie Walton
Sustainability Solutions Initiatives
program has given Bang Iong Chan
the $4,463 Global Sustainability
Studies Program award. This will
provide funding for Chan to study
abroad in Morocco.
Yasmynn Chowdhury, an
undergraduate studying cellular and
molecular biology, won the American
Association for the Advancement of
Science’s Student Poster Competition
in the Cellular and Molecular Biology
category. She will be recognized for
her achievement in the spring issue
of Science.
Doctoral candidate Federica Turriziani
Colonna has been appointed to the
Student Advisory Committee of the
International Society for the History,
Philosophy and Social Studies of
Biology. As a member, she will help
plan an upcoming meeting in Sao
Paulo, Brazil.
Doctoral candidate Jessica Corman’s
dissertation talk at the 2014 Joint
Aquatic Sciences Meeting was named
the Best Oral Performance in basic
research.
Doctoral candidate Samantha Day has
received the Mayo Clinic/ASU Obesity
Solutions Research Funding award.
This seed grant provides funding for an
innovative research project in the field
of obesity research.
Doctoral candidate Francesca De
Martini was given the Lisa Dent
Ecology fellowship for 2015-16. This
fellowship is provided to female PhD
students studying ecology, and in
memory of Lisa Dent, an ecology
graduate student in ASU’s biology
program from 1994-1999.
Doctoral candidate Steve Elliot was
named a Spirit of Service Scholar by
ASU’s College of Public Service and
Community Solutions to acknowledge
his work as editor-in-chief of ASU’s
Embryo Project Encyclopedia.
ASU awarded graduate student Tara
Furstenau a $500 Graduate Travel
Award to attend the annual meeting of
the Society for Molecular Biology and
Evolution in Vienna, Austria.
Francesca De Martini
Yayir Astudillo-Scalia
Evan Brus George Brusch IV
Steffen Buessecker Yasmynn Chowdhury
Federica Turriziani
Colonna
Jessica Corman
Liz Barnes
Student and Staff Awards and Honors 2015
Steve Elliot
Tara Furstenau
42 SOLS 2016 | VOLUME 12 NO. 1
